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T. C. JOHNSON & H. BREWER. CARTRIDGE PACKET.

Patented Mar. 8, 1898.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON AND HENRY BREWER, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT,

ASSIGNORS TO THE WINCHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY, OF SAM PLACE.

CARTRIDG E-PACKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,367, dated March 8, 1898.

Application filed August 2 8 189 7.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, THOMAS C. JOHNSON and HENRY BREWER, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement in Cartridge-Packets; and we do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a view in side elevation of a cartridge-packet constructed in accordance with our invention, filled with cartridges, and looking at its open side; Fig. 2, a reverse view thereof; Fig. 3, a plan or top View of the packet; Fig. 4, a reverse plan or bottom view thereof; Fig. 5, a view of the packet in inside elevation with the cartridges removed; Fig. 6, a rear view of the packet; Fig. 7, a front view thereof Fig. 8, a sectional view of the packet on the line a b of Fig. 1; Fig. 9, a similar View on the line 0 d of Fig. 1; Fig. 10, a view of the blank from which the packet is formed.

Our invention relates to an improvement in that class of cartridge-packets which are designed for the convenient carriage of a charge of cartridges in readiness for their quick introduction into a gun of the boxmagazine type, the object of the present invention being to produce at a low cost for manufacture a simple and convenient package constructed with particular reference to lightness, effectiveness, and convenience and reliability of operation.

\Vith these ends in view our invention consists in a sheet-metal cartridge-packet having a single side wall, a bullet-hold, and a head-hold, the rear portion of the said side wall being formed with a wide vertically-arranged expulsion-passage entering it from its upper edge and with an extractor-opening entering it from its lower edge and located below the lower end of the said expulsionpassage, from which it is separated by a rearwardly-extending horizontal tie, which constitutes the sole support of the said head-hold.

Our invention further consists in certain details of construction and combinations of Serial No. 649,802. (No model.)

parts, as will be hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out our invention we form, and by preference from a single piece of sheet metal, a packet the distinguishing and characteristic feature of which is that it has a single side wall instead of two, as such packets ordinarily have.

As herein shown, the single side wall of our improved packet comprises a body portion A and a horizontally-arranged tie A, which extends rearward from the rear edge of the said body portion, which is by preferencecut away to lighten the packet-as, for

instance, in the form of a large opening A or a pluralityof smaller openings. The upper edge of the said body portion A is bent inward to form an upper retaining-lip A while the rear corner of the lower edge of the said body portion is bent inward to form a yielding lower retaining-lip A.

The bullet-hold B of the packet is located at the forward edge of its body portion A and, as shown, is in the form of a partiallyclosed tube opening rearwardly. However, it is not necessary that the bullet-hold should be of tube-like form. Between the forward edge of the body portion A of the packet and the said tube the metal is set inward to form a retaining-rib I), while the free edge of the metal forming the tube is bent to form a smaller but functionally-corresponding rib b. The tube, it will be understood, is open at its upper and lower ends, and the space between thetwo retaining-ribs b b is designed to practically correspond to the diameters of the bullets.

The head-hold C of the packet is located at the rear end of and solely supported by the tie A and is box-like in transverse section, its upper end being rounded and closed, its lower end terminating in a retaining-finger C, and its rear wall being formed with an integral outwardly-projecting supporting extension C Between the upper portion of the This expulsion-passage is vertically arranged and enters the upper edge of the said side wall. Below the said tie A, and therefore between the lower part of the head-hold and the lower part of the body portion of the packet, is lo cated an opening D, which we choose to call the extractor-opening, inasmuch as it receives the extractor when the packet is introduced into the gun for the expulsion of its charge of cartridges. This extractor-opening enters the lower edge of the side wall of the packet and is located directly below the lower end of the said passage. The upper edge of the tie is turned outward to form an outwardly-turned flange a, which has the twofold function of stiffening the tie and of forming a surface over which the thumb may glide without being cut. The under edge of the said tie is formed with a corresponding outwardly-turned edge a, which has the twofold function of stiffening the tie and of better adapting the same to rest upon the upper face of the extractor when the packet is introduced into a gun. It is not imperative that the upper and lower edges of the tie should be turned outward, as described, although we prefer that construction.

Our improved packet is preferably formed from such a blank as is shown in Fig. 10, which is lettered with the letters used to designate the several parts of the packet in the foregoing description. It will be understood that with such a blank as is shown in Fig. 10 the packet may be folded in final form without the use of rivets or solder, which is advantageous on account of economy of time and labor secured.

Before proceeding to the description of the operation of our improved packet we may say that it is primarily designed to be used in conjunction with guns of the straight-pull bolt box-magazine type, of which the gun of United States Patent No. 547,583, granted October 8, 1895, to James Paris Lee, is an example.

In the use of our improved packet it is filled through its open lower end with cartridges, the heads of which are first set under the finger C of the head-hold. Then when the packet is filled to its capacity less one cartridge the finger O is bent inward and the head of the last cartridge placed under it and the cartridge snapped into place by exerting sufficient pressure upon it to spring the yielding lip A aside, after which the lip recovers itself and acts in concert with the finger O in holding the entire charge of cartridges in lace. When the packet has been so charged, it may be handled roughly and even thrown about without danger of dislodging the cartridges. In using the packet it is designed that it shall be carried in a suitably-adapted belt, which may be of any approved construction.

When it is desired to introduce the contents of one of our packets into a gun, the packet is set into the receiver-chamber of the frame of the gun so that the bullet-hold at its forward end will rest upon the side walls of the said chamber and so that the lower edge of its tie will rest upon the upper face of the extractor connected with the forward end of the bolt of the gun. By preference the supporting extension will be located so that at the same time this will rest upon the upper edge of the extreme forward end of the bolt. This is not an imperative requirement; but the engagement of the said extension with the bolt prevents the packet from being depressed at its rear end and thrown up at its forward end in case .undue pressure should be exerted upon the top of its head-hold. The packet having been placed in right position in the gun, the cartridges are expelled by the downward pressure upon them by the thumb of the user, the thumb following the cartridges down through the expulsion-passage D of the packet and continuing down through the open side thereof until the top cartridge of the charge is pushed under the extractor, which then snaps inward over it, so as to hold the whole charge of cartridges in place in the boxmagazine of the gun. It will be understood that the downward pressure of the thumb is sufficient to spring the retaining-lip A enough to permit the escape of the cartridges. At the same time also the finger C springs slightly. The cartridges having been thus expelled from the packet, the same is either removed from the gun by hand or allowed to drop away from it. The packets may be used over and over, if desired, although it is designed to make them at such small cost that they need not be recovered and reused.

In view of the modifications suggested and of others which may obviously be made we would have it understood that we do not limit ourselves to the exact construction herein shown and described, but hold ourselves at liberty to make such alterations as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of our invention.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A sheet-metal cartridge-packet having a single side wall, a bullet-hold,and a head-hold, the rear portion of the said side wall being formed with a wide vertically-arranged expulsion-passage entering it from its upper edge, and with an extractor-opening entering it from its lower edge and located below the lower end of the said expulsion-passage from which it is separated by a rearwardly-extending horizontal tie, which constitutes the sole support for the said head-hold.

2. A sheet-metal cartridge-packet having a single side wall, the rear portion of which is formed with a wide vertically-arranged expulsion-passage entering it from its upper edge, and with an extractor-opening entering it from its lower edge and located below the lower end of the said expulsion-passage from which it is separated by a rearwardly-extending horizontal tie, a bullet-hold located at the forward end of the said side wall, a head-hold located at the rear end of the said tie which constitutes its sole support, an upper retaining-lip and a yielding lower retaining-lip respectively located at the upper and lower edges of the said side Wall at points forward of the said passage and opening.

3; A sheet-metal cartridge-packet formed from a single piece of sheet metal, and having a single side wall formed with a wide Vertically-arranged expulsion-passage entering it from its upper edge and with an extractoropening entering it from its lower edge and located below the lower end of the said expulsion-passage from which it is separated by a horizontally-arranged rearwardly-extending tie, a head-hold located at the rear end of the said tie which constitutes its sole support, a bullet-hold located at the forward end of the In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscri'bing witnesses.

THOMAS C. JOHNSON. HENRY BREWER.

Witnesses:

W. S. BALDWIN, H. W. GRoEsBEcK. 

